The Old Kingdom
Last Updated     11/19/2007      11/3/2007      10/30/2007     10/5/2005

Ancient Egyptians believed that after death a judge would ask them three questions before admitting them to eternal life. They would have to swear that they had not murdered, robbed, or built a dam during their time on earth.

History
Egypt's history is divided in to three time periods called kingdoms. The rule of a pharoah was called a dynasty. Not all of the 31 dynasties fall into one of the three kingdoms. The time periods between the kingdoms were often times of foreign rule. The three kingdoms of Ancient Egypt are the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom.

Egypt’s civilization was doing really well, but there were wars between villages. 
People banded together into two kingdoms to protect themselves.
These were the UpperKingdom and the Lower Kingdom.

Narmer
In 3100, Narmer, the King of Upper Egypt, conquered Lower Egypt.
King Menes founded the city in 3100 BC.
Its ruins can now be found 20 kilometers south of Cairo.
Menes is considered to be the founder of the first dynasty in ancient Egypt.
During this period, Egyptians developed a national government and began to use writing.

Djoser
In 2686 BC, Sanakht established the 3rd dynasty.
Sanakht passed the throne to his younger brother, Djoser.
Djoser ordered the construction of the world's first pyramid as his tomb.

Old Kingdom Begins
2600 BC Old Kingdom begins in Egypt.
2300 BC Menes is 1st pharoah.
Kings, priests, government officials, and artisans lived in cities.
Rich lived on estates.
Most Egyptians were farmers.

Pharaoh
Pharoah means "Greathouse"
Pharoah was a ruler, a priest, and a god.
Egyptians saw their pharoah as a god, the living version of the god Horus, son of Osiris.
Pharoah (men & women) often wore fake beards, the symbol of authority.
Pharoah made laws and collected taxes.
Pharoah oversaw dams and irrigation canals.
Pharoah ordered graneries to be built.
Pharoah chose all government officials.
Pharoah carried out rituals.
Pharoah made the 1st break in dike to send water to irrigationcanals..
Drive bull around city to insure the soil was rich.
1st to cut ripe grain.
Pharoahs were very wealthy and lived in palaces with servants.
Pharoah's daughter could not inherit the crown, but her husband could.
Some women ruled if there was no male heir. Cleopatra
In some royal families brother and sister married to keep the power in the family.
Buried in magnificent tombs with treasure to take them to the afterlife.

Pyramids
The Pharaoh was not considered to be an ordinary person. 
He of course did not die in an ordinary way either. 
A great deal of money and treasure was put into his tomb. 
The first of the Pharaohs were buried in low lying tombs made of mud bricks called mastabas.
Built on west bank of Nile.
Contained personal belongings of the pharoahs.
But then the Age of Pyramids began! 
That's when pyramids were built for the Pharaohs.

Pyramid of King Djoser
The first one was for King Djoser and was built in Saqqara, a desert plateau.
It has six rises of gigantic steps, six levels on top of the other.
Similar to a ziggurat temple.
It is not in the shape of a true pyramid.
It does not have straight sides.
It designed by an architect named Imhotep.
It was made entirely out of stones, not mud bricks.
It took about 18 years to complete.
It is probably the oldest building in the world.
The others built after him had smooth sides like huge triangles.

Pyramid Age 2686 BC - 2181 BC
The Pyramid Age began in the Old Kingdom and continued for about one thousand years.
Egyptian middle and upper classes built pyramids.
Most were constructed near Abydos, the home of Osiris, Egyptian god of the dead.
Of the eighty pyramids which remain standing the most famous are located near Gizeh.
Whether they were large or small, these “houses of eternity” were built to last a very long time.

The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid is the biggest, and it was built for the pharaoh Khufu. 
It was built at Giza and covers 13 acres. 
It took 20 years to build and as many as 100,00 people were involved. 
The average weight of each block of stone used is 2.5 tons.  
The total number of blocks is 2,300,000, with about 285 added each day. 
The blocks were brought higher and higher as the pyramid grew taller by ramps.
The blocks had to be pushed or pulled up them. 
The pyramids had a huge impact on the economy and the people. 
Farmers worked 3 months (flood) a year on the pyramids.
Workers used copper tools.

Religious Beliefs
Egyptians believed in many gods.
Hapi = River god
Re = Sun god
Osiris = god of the harvest and of eternal life
Souls of the dead go to the Underworld.
Souls were weighed.
If their souls were balanced they got eternal life.
Book of the Dead  had magic spells.

Mummies
Dead bodies were embalmed.
Wrapped bodies are called mummies.
Embalming preserved the pharoah and later other people.
Used chemical natron. It dried up the water and shrank the body.
After shrinking wrapped in linen.
Rich placed in coffin and then in a tomb.
Poor buried in a cave or sand.

End of the Age of Pyramids
The Old Kingdom felt into chaos toward the end of the 6th dynasty.
Governors in the provinces challenged and undermined pharaoh's authority.
Local governments began to rebel.
The death of Pepy II, the last king of the 6th dynasty, was the end of the Old Kingdom.
Leaders in Upper Egypt got a new pharaoh. 
They based their new capital in Thebes.
For the next 120 years famines and civil wars devastated Egypt.

Bibliography
David, A. Rosalie, The Egyptian Kingdoms, New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1975, p. 136